In which Clay Spenser is a sub masquerading as a dom and Brian Armstrong is impossible to interrogate.

AKA - A season one AU in which Brian lives and everyone has a dom/sub designation.

Rated M. Brian/Clay.


Episode 1

It took Jason about an hour after the AAR to figure out what it was about Clay Spenser that set him off. It wasn't his father - though Ash had always been a dick, even before the book - and it wasn't Nate - though the kid certainly had some similarities. No.

He was a sub.

The fact had clicked into place when he saw a man from Green Team meet him at the gate. Memory filtered through. Brian Armstrong. He was leading the class right now.

Armstrong slung an arm around Spenser's shoulder and Clay sunk into the embrace before he shoved Brian away with a joke. It was a quick interaction. Seconds. The two bumped shoulders as they walked off after, towards a Camaro and eventually a bar.

It all fell into place then. A lightbulb went off in his head, the stars aligned, all that crap. He knew.

Oh, the kid hid it well. He walked the walk and talked the talk, but it was just a bit too forced at times. That was what had set Jason's instincts going off.

The kid was faking it.

"Say that again?" Ray set his beer down without even taking a swig. Jason sunk into the sofa. "He's a sub?"

"It ain't like it's in his file, but yeah, I'm pretty sure."

Ray's mouth twitched. "You got a problem with that?"

"I got a problem with him faking otherwise." Jason took a long drag from his beer when he saw Ray cross his arms.

"You know any subs in the teams? Any?" He didn't, which Ray knew. There'd been a few switches who'd gotten into Green Team, but to his knowledge the Teams were all doms and dom-switches.

"Sonny's pretty close to a 50-split switch." Jason shrugged. Ray scoffed. "Alright, I take your point."

Ray finally took a swig, "The fact that he's been able to hide it this long is just further testament to his abilities." Now it was Jason's turn to scoff.

"I think it's a testament to Armstrong's ability to help him fake it." Jason gulped down the last of his beer and pulled the file from his bag. "He and Spenser have been in the same unit since BUD/S. Never the same team, but same deployments and same trainings."

"Same barracks." Ray filled in the last of it. "Last I checked DADT was repealed." Jason growled. "I still don't get the issue, Jace."

Jason pulled a hand down his face, "What happens when the kid doesn't have Armstrong to help him?"

"Armstrong might be helping him cover up his designation, but he's not completing the kid's missions for him. That's all Spenser. You saw him in action."

He had.

Jason blew out a breath. Ray handed him another beer, "Look, fact is we don't know there's never been a sub in the Teams. It isn't tracked. Never has been. Far as we know, someone else might have pulled the same trick as the kid."

"No way a SEAL can keep that from his whole team." Jason paused, beer on his lip, "You think teams have been covering for subs?"

"Probably not often," Ray sank into his arm chair. Their profession lent itself to a certain stereotype for a reason.

Jason set his beer down. "How hard you think it would be to keep something like that from command?"

"We could ask Armstrong." Ray smirked when he saw Jason's eyes glaze over in thought. Bravo was getting their very own sub, whether Jason wanted to admit to it or not.

-.-.-

Armstrong kept a genial smile on his face even as Jason Hayes slammed him into a wall. Ray gave him points for that. Armstrong just straightened up against the wall when Hayes stepped back.

"Master Chief Hayes. Senior Chief Perry." Armstrong gave a nod to each of the two men now looming over him, arms crossed. "What can I do for you?"

"Spenser's a sub." Hayes' words brought a quick eye flicker, but the smile didn't drop. "You're helping him hide it."

"That's insane." Armstrong chuckled, only a tad forced. "Sir."

Hayes narrowed his eyes at the address, his body tensed. Ray smirked, "You're good." Ray put a hand on Haye's shoulder before the man could tear into Armstrong about respect. "But we're not here to bust you, or Spenser."

"What are you here for?" Armstrong kept on smiling. He eyed the supply closet they'd shoved him into with faint interest, "Cause I've seen enough porn to be concerned."

"Are you always this frustrating?" Jason's jaw ticked. Ray stifled a laugh - obviously Spenser wasn't the only one who could fake it. Armstrong looked cool as a cucumber, but Ray knew he had to be freaking out.

Armstrong shrugged, "You always this amicable?" Ray bit back another laugh.

"Okay, maybe we should take this guy for Bravo instead of Spenser." Ray dropped his arms to his side and looked at Jason. "He and Sonny? I'd pay money."

He would too. He'd bet a pretty penny that Armstrong would have Sonny foaming at the mouth in minutes.

"Bravo wants Spenser?" Armstrong's smile dropped as his face contorted into something akin to a suspicious hope.

Jason grumbled, "Thinking on it." Ray rolled his eyes and look at Armstrong.

"Can he deploy without you? If there's other doms around to look after him?" Ray asked the question and then took an immediate step back at the sudden rage that crossed Armstrong's face.

"Clay doesn't need looking after." The genial attitude was gone. The great Jason Hayes even straightened at the flat tone that Armstrong adopted. He shoved his way past them and out of the closet.

"Well," Hayes look at Ray, sarcastic grin place, "That went well." Ray sighed. He'd be sleeping with one eye open, the way Armstrong had been looking at them.


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